Pakistan: SUPARCO generates inundation maps for ongoing floods

Pakistan is currently facing medium to high level flooding in all the major rivers of the country. The flooding is mainly due to heavy monsoon rains combined with hill torrents from North-Western mountain ranges and heavy inflow of water in Eastern Rivers. According to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), heavy monsoon rains starting at the beginning of August 2013 caused widespread losses and damages across the country. About 139 lives are lost and one million people are affected across Pakistan.

To monitor the situation, UN-SPIDER's Regional Support Office in Pakistan, SUPARCO, started generating daily flood inundation maps based on MODIS sensors of Aqua/Terra satellites. The maps focused on identification of affected districts, inundated areas, river flow monitoring and rapid damage assessment.

These daily inundation maps are being forwarded to National Disaster Management Agencies, Provincial Disaster Management Agencies, and District Coordination Offices for assisting them in coordinating relief/rescue and early recovery operations. The spatial analysis performed on these inundation maps is also being field-validated by survey teams performing rapid ground surveys in flood affected areas.

The Rapid/Detailed damage assessment work carried out by the Regional Support Office has been appreciated by the federal and provincial government departments concerned. The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) office in Pakistan is also being assisted by provisioning of statistics of inundated agriculture, damages to standing crops and livestock.